Saturday's project

[Scott T Smith]

Earlier this week I received an e-mail from a hay customer referring me to a large red oak tree that recently fell at a local equestrian farm. I drove out today to look at it before incurring the cost to transport my equipment.

Whoa..... 208" circumference at breast height! Looks like I can get two 8' long, 5'6" diameter logs out of it / 24,000 lbs total. That ought to produce some nice quartersawn red oak! Hopefully it won't have much metal or rot, but I'll know more Saturday when I go up to retrieve it.

Looks like Saturday morning is going to be busy...

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[Peter Quinn]

Did it just pass out from the heat?

[Phil Thien]

Wow!

Scott, will a tree that size pose any special difficulties for you? I imagine that a tree that size is pushing the envelope of what many mills could handle, but I don't really know, just speculating.

[keith jensen]

Trees seem to look even BIGGER when they are sideways!!! Sweet!

[Joe Angrisani]

So how's that work, Scott? Do you go and just cut out the tenderloin, or are you responsible for removing the whole tree, roots-to-leaves? Will you bring the logs home, or will you mill them there? What will those logs be, 2,000 bf? (assuming no rot)

Do keep us posted. :)

[Mike Wilkins]

Nice find. Hope the tree is not rotted in the middle like many I have seen.

[Scott T Smith]

Wow!

Scott, will a tree that size pose any special difficulties for you? I imagine that a tree that size is pushing the envelope of what many mills could handle, but I don't really know, just speculating.

Phil, this one will be interesting. With a 5'6" diameter, I'm may have to block the tracks up on the sawmill in order to get the sawhead to clear for the first 6 inches. Due to the heat, I will probably end-seal the logs and wait to mill it until fall, as I don't want to incur surface checking on the wide boards. I will also plan on milling them thicker than normal (probably 6/4 or 7/4), so that I can get them to surface out over the entire width after drying.

I think that I will also take a new tack and saw the log initially into thirds, and then quartersaw those thirds in order to maximize the amount of ultra-wide QS boards.

At 1,500 lbs per running foot, these will be the largest logs that I've milled to date. I've done lots in the fifty to fifty-five inch range, but not a 66 incher. First time for everything...


So how's that work, Scott? Do you go and just cut out the tenderloin, or are you responsible for removing the whole tree, roots-to-leaves? Will you bring the logs home, or will you mill them there? What will those logs be, 2,000 bf? (assuming no rot)

Do keep us posted. :)

Joe, with no rot or metal it should yield a little under 4000 bd ft of lumber (although less due to quartersawing), which equals about 2000 bd ft per 8' log. In this instance, I will bring the logs back to the farm to mill. Other volunteers from the horse farm will be harvesting the limbs, etc for firewood, so my primary focus will be on the trunk log.


Nice find. Hope the tree is not rotted in the middle like many I have seen.

Mike, I hope not either. It looks good from the bottom.

[Doug Morgan]

Ok I'm officially JEALOUS. Man what a nice find. But for sure a lot of work but sure will yield a lot of lumber assuming that there is no rot.

[Jim Becker]

Wow...nice score, Scott. I agree with you that you have a lot of flexibility to work with there, especially to pull out some wonderful (and even some large) QS stock. Mark me "jealous"!!

[John A. Callaway]

Did it just pass out from the heat?

This is just too funny!!!

Nice score on the Oak....

[Scott T Smith]

We made good progress on Saturday, but did not wrap things up. Part of the problem was that I had a previous commitment at 1pm, so we only had 4-1/2 hours on site. We were able to assist with other volunteers and get a lot of the canopy removed and loaded onto trailers / hauled into the woods.

The plan is to complete things next weekend.

Unfortunately, we discovered some rot in the base of the tree, so it looks like we *may* be able to net one log out of the trunk w/o rot. Won't know for sure until next weekend though.

Start of day, before canopy removal.

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By 11 am...

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[David Nelson1]

Wow thats one heck of a Red Oak!

[Donny Lawson]

That sure is a big Oak. I would like to see some more pics when you get it done and maybe some of the quatersawn boards. Those will be nice.

[Mark Engel]

That sure is a giant oak. I may have to stop by the farm and check that out once you get it back home.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Any idea of the age of the tree?

[Scott T Smith]

Any idea of the age of the tree?

Andrew, not yet. I'll be able to count the rings once we cut the butt log next weekend. Red oaks as funny.... I've seen some that were 50" diameter but only 70 years old. I've seen others that were 200 years old but only 36" diameter. It depends upon the species and the nutrition available to the tree.

This one is a willow oak, which tends to be one of the faster growing red oaks. I've harvested some quartersawn boards from them that had some absolutely stunning ray fleck too.

[Joe Angrisani]

I love that last photo, Scott. Other than the chainsaw, it looks like one of those olde-tyme logging shots!

[Mike Cruz]

Shame that it fell. But good that it won't turn into firewood... I hit metal with my chainsaw AND band saw this weekend...:mad: A thread about THAT later...

[Bruce Page]

I bet that went thump when it hit the ground. I'm glad it wont go to waste.

[Scott T Smith]

UPDATE. Yesterday we went back to the log site to complete the removal. Volunteers had cleared most of the remaining canopy the previous weekend, which made our job much easier.

Here is a view of the upper end of the log after we made our initial cuts.


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In order to load the log I had to take both my backhoe as well as the skid steer loader from the farm. We placed a machine on each side of the lot and used both to raise it, and then back it up about 15’ so we could back a trailer underneath it. Here is a photo of the log up in the air with the trailer backed under it.

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Once we got back to the farm, we borrowed a 25 ton crane to unload the log. After the weather cools down we will place it in the sawmill to mill it into quartersawn boards. There is minimal rot on one end, but the bottom end shows tell-tale signs of metal which we will need to be on the lookout for when we mill it.


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A lot of work went into retrieving this log, but I think that it will be worthwhile in the long run. The log scales out to approximately 2,400 bd ft of lumber. Depending upon how much we lose due to metal staining, I hope to yield 1,400 bd ft or so of quartersawn lumber from it, plus another few hundred feet of rift sawn.

[David Nelson1]

Heck of an operation! I'm with ya in spirit. Brings back some very pleasant memories!

[Mike Cruz]

Just one log, Scott? C'mon... :) Man that thing looks like a beast. Best of luck cuttin' 'er up. Hope ya miss as much metal as possible...

[Scott T Smith]

Just one log, Scott? C'mon... :) Man that thing looks like a beast. Best of luck cuttin' 'er up. Hope ya miss as much metal as possible...

Mike, yeah, I know.... I opted for one log due to concern re rot and metal in the bottom several feet of the trunk. Sawmill blades ain't cheap, ya know?!

[Joe Angrisani]

Did you hit any metal so far?

[Scott T Smith]

Did you hit any metal so far?

No, but I haven't started milling it yet and fortunately we missed it with the chainsaw. I cut the log at 12', and left about 5' of stub below the cut, so I am hoping that any metal may be confined to within a foot or two of one end of the log.

I'll probably wait until October or November to mill it, when the weather starts to cool down.

[Joe Angrisani]

What's the latest, Scott?

[Mike Heidrick]

Wow. Pretty crazy amount of work. You must want red oak really bad.

[Scott T Smith]

Wow. Pretty crazy amount of work. You must want red oak really bad.

Mike, when it's quartersawn it can be pretty spectacular, and I really enjoy making wide boards and sheets of veneer. Here are a pair of bookmatched 16" QSRO veneer leaves from a similar tree that I harvested a few years ago.


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[Neil Brooks]

Might need to change your member photo, for this one, Scott :)

[Anthony Whitesell]

I've been cutting down dead or dying 100' tall white pines. Why due they always seem 150 to 200 feet long when they are laying on the ground?

[Scott T Smith]

Might need to change your member photo, for this one, Scott :)

Neil, funny that you should mention it... that veneer that I just posted the photo of came from the log in my avatar!

[Scott T Smith]

What's the latest, Scott?

Joe, I'll probably mill it over the winter. I have all of the parts to put an 8' dedicated slabber together for my sawmill, and I would like to complete it and use it on the Roxboro log to maximize the yield of ultra-wide boards.

Oak keeps fairly well in the log, especially when it is cold out.

[brian c miller]

If you make any wide stuff that would mill out to 1" think (6/4 probably) I'll take some more.

For those that haven't delt with Scoot before here's a picture of my last purchase. AWESOME lumber at a reasonable price.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112560337555351429394/WideLumber121111910PM#5685058520288290674

https://picasaweb.google.com/112560337555351429394/WideLumber121111910PM#5685058534089181042



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BCM